Despite his team’s second-round ouster, Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly was encouraged by the gains his team made in an unprecedented season that also included a devastating injury to Jamal Murray. Like others within the organization, before Murray tore his ACL, Connelly felt the Nuggets could win a championship. Instead, Connelly heads into the offseason with the core of a championship foundation intact, yet a roster still in need of upgrades.
Over the next few days, the Bay Area News Group will examine what went right, what went wrong and the biggest offseason questions for each of the Warriors players. 845 more words
The case of Rick Carlisle is proof of how quickly Twitter works. Minutes after Carlisle confirmed to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski he’s stepping down as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, Twitter linked him strongly to the vacant position of Boston Celtics head coach. Woj shared these tweets at 4:07 p.m. ET, reporting Carlisle’s […]
Amid a potentially devastating day of news in the NBA, LeBron James decided to weigh in from his offseason perch: Moving forward with the 2020-21 season so swiftly after the last one was a mistake. 657 more words
If you must speak of GOATs, the 2021 MRI championship team would be the all-timer. Kawhi Leonard joins Anthony Davis, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Chris Paul, Jamal Murray, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and DeAndre Hunter on that esteemed squad of casualties, temporary or otherwise, during the playoffs. We can debate the…
The Red Sox won the game, 2-1, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stole the show on Monday night. And even though the Sox ended up walking off twice to split the four-game series, 2-2, it was Guerrero who put together a personal highlight reel while reminding the baseball world that nobody is better than he is…
THE RED SOX have lost each of their last 2 games…Allowed a franchise-record 8 HR (previous: 7 HR, 4 times).
Also allowed season highs in runs (18), hits (20), and XBH (11)…Last allowed 18+ runs on 7/25/19 vs. NYY (19-3).
Have allowed 5+ HR in back-to-back games for the 1st time in franchise history (5 on Friday, 8 today)…Did not allow 3+ HR in a game through their first 64 games…Allowed just 43 HR in their first 59 games prior to allowing 21 HR in the last 7 games.
XANDER BOGAERTS (1-for-3, R, HR, RBI, BB) hit a solo HR in the 2nd inning, his 1st plate appearance after missing the previous 2 games (left knee soreness).
Has homered in 2 of his last 3 games…His HR today had an exit velocity of 110.2 mph, his 2nd hardest hit HR in the Statcast era (112.1 mph, 7/25/19 vs. NYY).
During his season-best 9-game hitting streak, is batting .412 with 5 XBH, 8 RBI, and a 1.126 OPS (13-for-34, 8 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB).
BOBBY DALBEC (1-for-3, R, HR, RBI, BB) hit a solo HR in the 7th inning…Is 5-for-15 (.333) with 4 XBH and 4 RBI in his last 4 games, after a 3-for-38 stretch (.079).
Exit velocities of Dalbec’s last 5 hits: 109.3 mph (single), 105.9 mph (double), 106.7 mph (HR), 100.9 mph (triple), and 108.1 mph (today’s HR).
KIKÉ HERNÁNDEZ (1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) hit a 2-run double in the 5th inning…Is 7-for-26 (.269) with 4 2B and a .345 OBP in his last 7 games (2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, HBP).
MARTÍN PÉREZ (1.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, BB) tossed the 3rd-shortest start of his career…Lasted 0.2 IP on 9/26/12 and 1.0 IP on 7/28/15, both with TEX.
MARWIN GONZALEZ (1.0 IP/0-for-1) made his 1st career pitching appearance, tossing the 8th and 9th innings…This season, Gonzalez has pitched and played 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, and RF…The only other Red Sox to play each of those 7 positions in a season are Steve Lyons (1991) and Jack Rothrock (1928).
BLUE JAYS NOTES (33-30)
THE BLUE JAYS have won back-to-back games after losing 4 of their previous 5…Are 10-7 in their last 17 games following a season-long 6-game losing streak.
Set season highs in runs (18), hits (20), HR (8), and XBH (11)…A franchise-record 7 Blue Jays hit at least 1 HR…Hit 5+ HR for the 4th time in 2021.
Have hit 5+ HR in back-to-back games for the 3rd time in franchise history (also 8/12-14/20, 6/16-17/17)…Are the only team in the majors this season with 5+ HR in back-to-back games (previous: NYY 9/15-17/20, 3 games).
Scored 4 runs in the 1st, 4th, and 5th innings, their 1st game with 4+ runs in 3 different innings since 8/26/16 vs. MIN (also 3 innings).
TEOSCAR HERNÁNDEZ (3-for-6, 2 R, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI) hit a pair of 3-run HR in his 11th career multi-HR game, 2nd of 2021 (also 5/12 at ATL)…Is the 1st Blue Jay with multiple 3-run HR in a game since Michael Saunders on 6/17/17 at BAL (2).
Set a career high with 6 RBI…Is the 2nd Blue Jay with 6+ RBI in a game this year (Guerrero Jr., 4/27 vs. WSH, 7 RBI).
BO BICHETTE (4-for-5, 5 R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB, SB) had a season-high 4 hits, including a 3-run HR in the 5th…Recorded his 8th SB of the season, tied for the team lead.
Tied a franchise record with 5 runs scored (5th occurrence, previous: Josh Donaldson, 5/26/15 vs. CWS).
ROBBIE RAY (6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 10 SO) recorded 10+ SO for the 2nd-straight start, 3rd time this season and 26th time in his career–4th most among active LHP….Is his first time with 10+ SO in back-to-back starts since 9/22-28/19.
Has 86 SO over his last 10 starts, his most SO in a 10-game span since a career-high 87 from 6/30-9/15/17…The only Blue Jays with at least 86 SO in a 10-game span are Roger Clemens (25 times from 1997-98) and A.J. Burnett (2 times from 2006-08).
VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR. (3-for-5, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI) hit his MLB-leading 21st HR…Recorded 3+ hits for the 11th time this season, most in the majors…At the conclusion of today’s game, led the majors in HR (21), RBI (55), OBP (.450), SLG (.688), OPS (1.137), and total bases (154), and led the AL in AVG (.344)
Has homered in 3 consecutive games for the 2nd time in his career, both this season (also 5/13-16).
MARCUS SEMIEN (2-for-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI) singled and scored in the 1st inning and hit a solo HR in the 2nd…Has homered in back-to-back games for the 1st time since 8/15-16/20…14 of his 15 HR this season have been hit while playing second base, the most at the position in the majors this season.
CAVAN BIGGIO (2-for-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, BB) homered in back-to-back games for the 2nd time in his career (also 8/30-31/19).
The view from left field 